The other day I happened upon quite a large collection of porcelain pups, consisting of some beautifully refined figurines (like this delicate German Shepherd and Greyhound), along with some quite naive examples – I was lucky to arrive just as the dogs were being unpacked so I got to pick and choose! Both of these dogs are fantastic quality and in perfect condition, but my very favourite has to be the Greyhound – they’re such graceful looking creatures in real life, and this beauty translates so well to sculpture. It also doesn’t hurt matters that the Greyhound was made by W. Goebel, a serious name when it comes to porcelain figurines – small porcelain Goebel figurines like this Greyhound can sell for in excess of R1000! But I’m not really being fair to the German Shepherd, who’s equally as lovely! There’s no maker’s mark on the German Shepherd (other than a “Made in Western Germany” stamp), but I suspect that he dates to more or less the same period as the Greyhound, sometime around the 1940s.

A wonderful pair of pups that are refined enough to be on the right side of kitsch!

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I think that Wood’s Ware must be one of the most timeless designs – looking at this beautiful coffee pot you’d never guess that it was first produced in the 1940s! Aside from the fact that it’s in near mint condition, the simplicity of the shape with nothing but a few lines for decoration, could so easily have been designed today. Wood’s manufactured this same design in a variety of different coloured glazes, with this pale green earthenware glaze being called ‘Beryl‘.

A great piece of art deco design inspired by the the austerity measures introduced during the war years – necessity, the mother of all inventions!

Dimensions: 19cm tall x 10cm in diameter

Price: R165

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I just love the way a bunch of vintage kitchenalia looks all together – kitchen accessories were so much cooler back in the day! Like the Nutbrown pastry blender – I know that I’m probably never going to be blending pastry, but every time I see one of these I pick it up and put my thumb on the little round grip – it just feels so great! And how sweet are the animal cookie cutters – I’d love me some butter cookie kittens to snack on! The jaffle iron’s also a real win – sadly the handle’s plastic, and the metal looks to be aluminium, not steel, but it’s in near perfect nick! We’ve got quite into our jaffles since we’ve moved to Jozi (they seem to be much more popular here) – maybe it’s because of the amount of filling you can stuff into them, but they’re so much tastier than a normal toasted sarmie! And finally we have the glass skillet and the bean slicer. I admit the bean slicer’s probably not the most useful kitchen accessory, but it’s a great decor item, and I suppose if you’re serious about your green beans it might actually come in handy. The 1940s Range-Tec glass skillet is in great nick, and quite lovely to look at – I love that art deco handle!

Prices:

Cookie cutters – R65 for the set of four SOLD

Nutbrown jaffle iron – R130 SOLD

Nutbrown pastry blender – R95

Range-Tec glass skillet – R145 SOLD

Bean slicer – R140 SOLD

Mint puts up four new items every weekday. The first post goes up at 07h00, the second at 08h00 and the third and fourth at 08h30. You can subscribe to our daily email which goes out at around 09h00 by clicking on the pink envelope on the right hand side of the blog(more…)

I love the 1940s style of Wood’s Ware – such a simple design that’s still so attractive decades later! I think that the Beryl glaze is probably my favourite of the Wood’s Ware colours, but the Jasmine is also quite lovely, especially when it comes in the form of a nice big teapot! Most of the Wood’s Ware teapots that I’ve come across have been quite a bit smaller than than this one, which looks like it could hold a good few cuppas!

A lovely retro teapot in great condition – bar some wear to the base and a small mark on the inside of the spout, this teapot really is in fantastic nick for its age!

Dimensions: 17cm tall x 16cm in diameter (at its widest)

Price: R160

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James Sadler & Sons Ltd were an English pottery house that first started trading in 1882, with the maker’s mark on this teapot dating to around 1947. Sadler referred to themselves as ‘Teapot & Art Ware Manufacturers’ and were prolific in their production of teapots! They were most famous for the Brown Betty, a very simple (and somewhat boring) teapot, but also produced some great novelty teapots, including the famous racing car teapot (so cool!). This beautiful floral Sadler teapot is quite naive, but has the most beautiful decoration, including some super bling gold detail on the handle and spout! It’s not quite in the racing car category, but it’s definitely more exciting than the Brown Betty, and is in pretty decent nick for its years!

Dimensions: 13cm tall x 15cm in diameter (at its widest)

Price: R140

Mint puts up four new items every weekday. The first post goes up at 07h00, the second at 08h00 and the third and fourth at 08h30. You can subscribe to our daily email which goes out at around 09h00 by clicking on the pink envelope on the right hand side of the blog(more…)

How lucky to find a complete set of ‘Jasmine’ Wood’s Ware! I’ve always had a soft spot for this art deco pottery and so try to nab pieces whenever they come up for sale, but I think that this is the first time I’ve come across a complete set! Jasmine, Beryl and Iris were three monochrome glazes produced by Wood & Sons in the 1940s in response to the ‘utility’ scheme put in place by the UK government during WWII. While the lack of pattern made the pottery very simple compared to what the English market was used to, they were clever with their design, adding small details (like the ridges, and slightly ornate handles) that made all the difference!

A lovely set in excellent condition for its years. A few of the side plates have some light marks (unfortunately not visible in the photos), but on the whole this set is in great nick!

Note: Mint puts up four new items every weekday. The first post goes up at 07h00, the second at 08h00 and the third and fourth at 08h30. You can subscribe to our daily email which goes out at around 09h00 by clicking on the pink envelope on the right hand side of the blog(more…)